The year is coming to and that means its time for us to whine and complain about why everything sucks. It's been kinda slow this year.


Successes:

Isis - Wavering Radiant
A good follow up to In The Absence of Truth and a solid record all the way 'round. It isn't my favorite Isis record but it has some of my favorite moments.

Converge - Axe to fall
I was way excited for this release and for the most part it rules. A few shitty, forced tracks trying to do the "progressive" approach and an excessive amount of guest musicians still can't ruin the raw ferocious energy that these guys have.

Clark - Totems Flare
Even though this is a pure electronica album, I had to put this up. It is so fucking good. Seriously genius stuff, and I'm really picky about my electronic stuff.

Augury - Fragmentary Evidence
It took me awhile go get into this as its not as good as Concealed but it is still some great Death Metal, which is harder and harder to come buy these days.

Disappointments:

1349 - Revelations of the Black Flame
What the fuck? Just plain boring, sloppy, and with a recording quality that has that 'neo-necro' forced quality.

Mastodon - Crack the Skye
They've lost me. Poor guys trying way to hard to push the envelope. Wankery.

Yet to hear and anticipating:

The Red Chord - Fed Through the Teeth Machine

That's all I can think of right now.

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Enslaved "Vertebrae"- An interesting album, I still don't know how I feel about it. The clean vocals are pretty uninteresting and repetitive and the black metal vocals are annoying in most parts. There are good passages and riffs in every song though so it's not a total miss.

Ensiferum "From Afar"- You can tell these guys spent a lot of time on the album, it has a strong orchestral element compared to their last albums. The musicianship is great, lots of great riffs and excellent ideas. On the down side, there seems to be a lot of recycled Folk Metal elements. Fans of the genre might feel like they've heard this album before . I don't see how a fan of the genre couldn't like this one though.

Old Mans Child "Slaves of the World"- Easily my favorite metal release of 2009. It's got a nice thrashy blackened death metal feel to it. Lots of evil/headbangable riffing, excellent production, great drumming, and cool keyboards to add to the atmosphere.

I agree with the boringness of the new 1349 album, it's a big disappointment to me!

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Fog of War "Fog of War" - Best thrash release of 2009. All the other retro thrash beaners should hang their head in shame.

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Release of the year:

Keywords: ferocity, insanity, natural production, lo-fi, low-skill, low-tuned death metal.

Example: Seven Chalices of Vomit and Blood
Trust me, check this. And don't you dare put it off until you get at that menacing break at 2.11.

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Successes:

Isis - Wavering Radiant

I thought In the Absence of Truth was not one of their stronger works (though still better than 95% of lesser bands' output) so Wavering Radiant was a very welcome return to form. Not quite as crushing as Panopticon but a sterling effort none the less.

Nile - Those Whom the Gods Detest

Reminded me of a mix between the spastic disjointedness of Among the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka and the awesomeness of In Their Darkened Shrines while never quite obtaining the heights of either. Still, a welcome addition to anybody's death metal collection this year especially given the paucity of quality in that genre at the moment.

Converge - Axe to Fall

Converge at their face-shredding best. I even liked the last two tracks despite not quite fitting with what had preceded.

Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough

After their monolithic self-titled 2008 debut, I had doubts as to whether a release so soon after could maintain that level quality. I was wrong. This feast of technical American black metal will keep you cold through the winter with its unrelenting polyrhythms, discordance and polyphony.

Disappointments:

Suffocation - Blood Oath

Headbang? I thought I'd never wake up. Monotonous brutal death by numbers that belies this band's monstrous history.

Slayer - World Painted Blood

More drivel proving yet again that Slayer haven't landed a decent knockout punch since Divine Intervention. Terrible, terrible tone and I don't know about anybody else, but I prefer my Slayer in Eb.

Pelican - What We All Come to Need

Second successive album of directionless meanderings. Where are the devastating climaxes of Australasia and The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw?

Karl Sanders - Saurian Exorcisms

Save for the awesome "Contemplate This on the Tree of Woe" this doesn't come close to Sanders' debut solo disc.

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Yeah....I tried giving that another chance. No luck gaining them another fan.

Lamb of God- "Wrath" is a horrible excuse for an album. Then again, they haven't been all that great since As the Palaces Burn.

The Black Dahlia Murder- "Deflorate"- A step in a new direction. The riffs are there and will always be there. Now if they could only replace their boring metalcore drummer they might have something. 7/10 at best

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Yeah this year had a lot of disappointments didn't it?

Deströyer 666 - Defiance HAHAHAHAHAno. Fucking boring run-of-the-mill shit right there. All that waiting for THIS? Lame production. Oh and Shrapnel used to deliver these insane solo's, fueled by wah and tremolo. None of that here, except on A Thousand Plagues, which is next to the solo, a giant snorefest aswell.

Immortal - All Shall Fall - try telling 2 songs apart from eachother. Really boring production too.

Marduk - Wormwood WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED HERE. Everything is half assed, even the lyrics! And I used to go dicksucktion on EVERYTHING Morgan/Mortuus used to write. And, yet again, horridly flat production. Was this recorded in the same studio that gave us ROM 5:12's rich and clear sound, or Plague Angel's organic fuzzy onslaught? Fuck this shit guys.

Oh well, if their frontman keeps LAYING THE SMACKETH DOWN on frontmen of local opening-acts like he does in that movie, including breaking the dude's back on a monitor, they can release another halfassed album or 2.

Seriously guys check that movie. The good shirt starts at 1.10

So yeah what else sucked?

Oh yeah Shining's 6th album. Lame. Their fifth album was really nice (V - Halmstad), and if you click the link I'm quite sure most of you would dig it. Not much black metal in there. Actually barely any it all. So yeah the 6th album was more of the same only muuuuuch less intresting.

Oh yeah new Behemoth was boring too. Seriously guys. I hated Demigod, and thought The Apostasy contained a llllot of crap (Prometherion, Slaying the Prophets oF Isa, Christgrinding Avenue, ...) but the times on the album when they hit it right, they were DEAD ON. Arcana Hereticae, Inner Sanctum, Libertheme, ... Badass shit right there.

Not much of that on Evangelion. But once again, in the last song, Lucifer they get their shit together, once again ending up with a MASSIVE track, carried by a gargantean riff.
Oh and they have new costumes. How nice for them.

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Uhhhm yeah I think this year was pretty cool for metal. Most records I buyed are cool and I still like them but my Highlights were (and still are):

Behemoth - Evangelion
I just can`t think of a better Blackened Death Metal band then Behemoth. OK Dissection but they are dead. This album is exactly what I expect of them. Catchy songs and riffs and br00tal vocals.
Fav. tracks : Of Fire and The Void, Luciferrrr, Defiling Morality of The Black God, Alas. Lord Upon Me

Cannibal Corpse - Evisceration Plague
HOLY SHIT! The year has just started and than POW hit in the face!
Fav. tracks : Nearly all of them only Scalding Hail is "just" a good song.

Dying Fetus - Descend into Depravity
Yeah War of Attrition was fucking cool and this album is probably in the same league as WoA. I really like that album.
Fav. tracks: Your Treachery Will Die With You, Desend into Depravity, At What Expense?

Ensiferum - From Afar
Yaaayayayayayayayayayyayayayayaaa. I don`t really know what to write about that, it`s just a cool album.
Fav. tracks: Lost in the Twilight Tavern, Stone Cold Metal

Fleshgod Apocalypse - Oracles
Fantastic Tech-Death record.
Fav. tracks: I tried to think of my fav tracks but I like all of them, even the piano-piece !

Karl Sanders - Saurian Exorcisms
I love the ambient music he makes. But you really have to listen through the whole cd. That`s why I can`t write down my favourite tracks, cause I see the cd as one piece.

New Nile.
I haven`t listened to it now cause I get it as a christmas present. But I listened to a few tracks on YouTube and again I can only say:
NILE IS THE FUCKIN BEST BAND IN THE WORLD, PERIOD!

Suffocation - Blood Oath
Brutal DM how I like it. Not as good as the self-titled album but still one of the greates albums this year
Fav. tracks: Blood Oath, Dismal Dream, Mental Heamorrhage

Tyr - By The Light of The Northern Star
Man I can`t understand a single word of this faeroer language but they knocked me out live and this album is very cool.
Fav. tracks : Tròndur Ì Götu, Hold The Heathen Hammer High, By the Sword in my Hand

Ok that`s it now the sucker:

Slayer - World Painted Blood

Not only the producing sucks, even the songs are shit. R.I.P. Slayer, now fuck off Kerry King!
Exodus "Atrocity Exhibition" is even better then Reign in Blood.

edit: Sorry I forgot to mention
AC/DC - Black Ice
Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooring and Brian Johnsons voice is still sounding like a dying squirrel. Bon Scott was da man.


OK enough from me. Can`t wait to hear the Nile album but I`m scared I won`t stop jizzing in my pants.

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This (Good).

Also:
Bone Awl - Night's Middle
Ash Pool - Saturns Slave
Leviathan - Sic Luceat Lux

I haven't really listened to much "music" this year.

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Amen.

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I'd throw the new Baroness into the 'Success' pile. Blue Record. It's not as good as some of their others, but still very good.

And shame on you all for not knowing it. If you have a problem with the direction Mastodon has ended up going, there's really no good excuse not to know Baroness.